Sen. Elaine Alquist

This bill would designate May 2009 as Jewish American Heritage Month.

This measure would designate the month of March of each year as Respiratory Syncytial Virus Awareness Month in the State of California. This measure would also encourage all Californians to observe the month with appropriate activities and educational outreach to parents and the medical community, as well as programs to raise awareness about the causes of, symptoms of, and ways of preventing Respiratory Syncytial Virus.

Existing federal law, the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA) , requires group health plans providing coverage to employers of 20 or more employees to provide former employees with continuation of benefits, as specified. Existing federal law, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, provides specified premium assistance under COBRA and state programs that provide comparable continuation coverage for certain assistance eligible individuals, as defined. Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care and makes a willful violation of that act a crime. Existing law also provides for regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law, the California Continuation Benefits Replacement Act (Cal-COBRA) , requires health care service plans and health insurers providing group coverage to employers of 2 to 19 employees to offer continuation of that coverage for a specified period of time to certain qualified beneficiaries, as specified. This bill would require health care service plans and health insurers to provide notice of the availability of premium assistance under the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to qualified beneficiaries who may be eligible for that assistance, as specified, and would require the notice to include certain information and to be sent within specified periods of time. The bill would allow a qualified beneficiary eligible for the federal premium assistance to elect Cal-COBRA coverage within a certain period of time and would allow individuals enrolled in Cal-COBRA coverage as of February 17, 2009, to request application of the federal premium assistance, as specified. The bill would authorize the Director of the Department of Managed Health Care and the Insurance Commissioner to adopt emergency regulations in the event that any federal assistance is or becomes available to persons eligible for Cal-COBRA, as specified. The bill would enact other related provisions. Because a willful violation of these requirements by a health care service plan would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

This measure would designate Friday, May 8, 2009, as California Peace Officers' Memorial Day and would urge all Californians to use that day to honor California peace officers.

This measure would recognize the month of February 2009 as American Heart Month in California, would recognize February 6, 2009, as Wear Red Day in California, and would urge public support for Go Red for Women events.

Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which basic health care services are provided to qualified low-income persons. The Medi-Cal program is partially governed and funded under federal Medicaid provisions. Existing law, until January 1, 2012, requires the department, subject to the availability of federal financial participation, to exercise a federal option to expand continuous eligibility to children 19 years of age and younger for 6 months, after which date the continuous eligibility period shall be from the date of a determination of eligibility to the earlier of either the end of a 12-month period following the eligibility determination or the date the child exceeds 19 years of age. This bill would extend the inoperative date of the above-described requirement until July 1, 2012, but would also provide that the provisions limiting continuous eligibility to 6 months shall be inoperative from the date this bill becomes effective until the date the Director of Health Care Services executes a declaration specifying that increased federal financial participation is no longer available pursuant to the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. This bill would require the department to redetermine the continuous eligibility period of any child whose continuous eligibility period was determined or redetermined pursuant to the provisions limiting continuous eligibility to 6 months during the first calendar year quarter of 2009 and would require the department to grant that child the period of continuous eligibility that existing law provides shall be available on and after January 1, 2012, retroactive to the date that the determination or redetermination under the provisions limiting continuous eligibility to 6 months was made. This bill would make other conforming changes. The California Constitution authorizes the Governor to declare a fiscal emergency and to call the Legislature into special session for that purpose. The Governor issued a proclamation declaring a fiscal emergency, and calling a special session for this purpose, on December 19, 2008. This bill would state that it addresses the fiscal emergency declared by the Governor by proclamation issued on December 19, 2008, pursuant to the California Constitution. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.